A GOOD START FOR APRILIA AT THE ARAGÓN MOTOGP WEEKEND

BRADL AND BAUTISTA, SHOWING CLEAR PROGRESS FROM ONE SESSION TO THE NEXT, ARE JUST OUT OF THE TOP 10

Narrow gaps and good sensations in the saddle: the weekend is off to a good start at Motorland Aragón for the Aprilia Racing Team Gresini, just out of the top 10 in the combined standings after the first two practice sessions.

Stefan Bradl ended the day riding his RS-GP just 869 thousandths from the top in some compact rankings where a couple of tenths can mean moving forward 5 positions. The German rider immediately found a good feeling, working both on the setup and on the various tyre options Michelin has brought to the Spanish race. The goal for tomorrow is clear: improve going into corners, looking for another step forward.

There is optimism on the other side of the garage as well for Alvaro Bautista, concentrating as always on work in view of the race, but capable of finishing with the fourteenth best time at 1'49.301, just 3 thousandths of a second behind his teammate. The home rider indicated the feeling with the rear as the element that analysis needs to focus on in order to set his sights on doing a repeat of Misano in qualifying, moving straight through to Q2.

ALVARO BAUTISTA

"A good first day. We finished less than a second behind the best time. We worked a lot on the electronics after FP1, where we did not have the best configuration from that point of view. In FP2 we took a clear step forward. I am especially happy because the feeling with the bike was very good, despite the fact that we need to perfect the setup since the hard rear tyre is missing a bit of grip".

STEFAN BRADL

"We got off on the right foot straight away. The RS-GP is working well and we are moving in the right direction. What's more, we managed to respect the planned testing programme, unlike past weekends. I took a few laps with the various available tyres to see how they would perform in view of the race, as well as working on details with the electronics. Right now I feel like we can improve, especially in the braking phase going into corners, which is a phase where we often have difficulty and which is accentuated here by the type of front tyres available".